


A Really Big Secret

by umbralillium



Series: February Ficlet Challenge fics [4]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Dragons, F/M, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22690519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umbralillium/pseuds/umbralillium
Summary: Nadia tells Vort a very big secret and takes him to Sarkhai.
Relationships: Nadia Grell/Original Male Character(s)
Series: February Ficlet Challenge fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622959
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2020





	A Really Big Secret

**Author's Note:**

> Vort is my sister, Jestana's, character, not mine. I'm just borrowing him (with permission!) for this story. This doesn't fit into Jedi Besties canon, although it is set within the SWTOR universe. It's just a jump to the left. Also, it's like three days late for the Dragon AU prompt on the February Ficlet Challenge 2020. Oops?

“Is the facepaint a religious requirement or just cultural?” Vort asked Nadia quietly as they cuddled together on his couch.

Nadia huffed a soft laugh and burrowed closer. “There isn’t a state religion on Sarkhai. The paint is protective, more than anything else.”

He nodded against her hair. “Zu told me about the wildlife on Sarkhai. So it’s an intimidation tactic?”

She was silent for a long moment and he frowned, glancing down at her. She was biting her lower lip, which she only did when she was anxious about something. “Nadia? What’s wrong?”

She sat up and he straightened from his slouch against the arm of the couch. “There’s something I need to tell you.” Before he could answer, she hurried on, her words almost tumbling over each other. “I didn’t keep it from you on purpose. I just didn’t know  _ how _ to tell you, mainly. It’s just not something we generally share. We’re encouraged to hide it, actually. Force, I hope their majesties won’t get mad at me for telling you.”

When she paused to take a breath, he laid a gentle hand over her mouth. “Tell me what, Nadia?” he asked, a hint of laughter in his eyes.

She moved his hand away, smiling sheepishly. “I can shapeshift.”

Vort blinked. “You wouldn’t be the first species to do so. Why hide it?”

“Because our hides in our other form are  _ extremely _ durable,” she explained, standing and starting to pace to release the nervous energy within her. “I haven’t tested it, but I’m pretty sure our scales are tougher than durasteel.”

His eyes widened and he slumped back against the couch, mind obviously racing with the implications. “No wonder your people survived on Sarkhai, despite the wildlife and plant life.”

A soft, fond smile tugged at her lips as she stopped to look at him. “Yes,” she answered simply.

“Can you show me?” he asked eagerly.

She shook her head sadly and watched his face fall. “I want to,” she hurried to assure him. “But, well, I’m rather large in my other form. I’m pretty sure I’d break most of your furniture if I were to transform here.”

His eyes widened as he looked around his home. It wasn’t a small apartment, granted it wasn’t the largest available on the station, but it wasn’t small by any means. “Kriff,” he muttered.

Laughing, she rejoined him on the couch. “Tell you what, we’ll take a trip to Sarkhai.”

“I’d like that,” he answered, guiding her back into his arms.

* * *

If Vort hadn’t been guiding their shuttle down to the surface of Sarkhai, he was fairly certain his face would’ve been pressed to the plasteel windows of the cockpit. As it was, he had to force himself to concentrate on the controls so as not to stare at the wide expanse of vegetation laid out before him. Sarkhai was a veritable painter’s palette of colors: green, purple, brown, blue, red, orange, even colors he didn’t have words to describe.

Nadia glanced over at him from the co-pilot’s seat and laughed. “What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful,” he answered honestly.

She kept watching him, smiling, taking in the awe painted across his face. “Yes, it is,” she agreed softly, not looking away from him. The shuttle landing with a faint bump tore her attention away. Excitement quickened her breath. Jumping up from her seat, she grabbed his hand and started towing him toward the gangway. Not that she had to work hard to bring him along, he was just as eager as she was.

Awaiting them were King Sethun and Queen Nyscha. Nadia halted in surprise. “Your Majesties,” she greeted, bowing with Vort copying her.

“Welcome home, Senator-Jedi Grell,” King Sethun replied, dipping his head in acknowledgment of her bow. “Welcome to Sarkhai, Vort’ell Wymer.”

“Thank you for allowing me to visit your beautiful planet, Your Majesties,” Vort answered, unable to keep his eyes from glancing over King Sethun’s shoulder into the jungle beyond the spaceport.

Queen Nyscha approached Nadia and took her hands. “Are you sure, Nadia?” she asked softly, glancing at Vort, as if silently adding ‘Are you sure about him?’

Nadia nodded, following the queen’s look. “Very sure, Your Majesty.”

Nodding as well, Queen Nyscha gave Nadia’s hands a gentle squeeze before stepping back to King Sethun’s side. “Your home has been prepared for your arrival,” the queen said briskly. “We took the liberty of hiring a staff to clean and supply it for you.”

“You didn’t—” Nadia started to protest.

Vort took her hand. “We are very grateful, Your Majesties.”

Nadia smiled sheepishly. “Yes, very grateful.”

The King smiled at them. “We’ll be holding a dinner party tomorrow evening to welcome you home. We will see you then.” Before either Vort or Nadia could protest, he and the queen turned and headed to their transport, their guards falling in around them.

Vort and Nadia looked at each other, completely flummoxed. “I didn’t pack anything for a dinner party,” Nadia lamented.

A laugh escaped Vort before he could stop it. “I’m fairly certain there’s somewhere we can buy the appropriate clothes.”

“True,” Nadia allowed, smiling sheepishly. “Come on!” She urged, towing him along once again as she headed for a ground transport.

He followed her lead, smiling fondly.

* * *

The Grell home seemed more like an estate to Vort. Not that that was saying much, compared to the other homes they had passed on their way through the capital. It stood to reason, he supposed. If the Sarkhai second form was large enough that Nadia was unwilling to transform in his apartment, they’d need plenty of space in and around their own homes.

Once they climbed out of the transport, Nadia didn’t even stop to give him a tour. She led him straight through the house to the vast lawn in back. She stopped at the edge of a sprawling patio that ran the length of the back of the house. “Wait here,” she ordered softly.

She started to turn away and he kept hold of her hand. “Hey,” he said softly, tugging her back towards him. She looked up at him in question, her lower lip caught between her teeth. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know,” she said quickly, slightly sharply. Her shoulder slumped and she bit her lip again.

His hand came up to her chin and tugged her lip from her mouth. “Whatever you look like, it won’t matter to me. You’ll still be Nadia Grell. I’ll still be right here.”

She smiled and nodded, resting one hand over his heart. “Thank you.”

He smiled back and gave her a soft kiss, still holding her chin. They stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment before Nadia backed away onto the grass, her eyes locked on Vort. His eyes widened as she started taking her clothes off. A mischievous grin curled her lips as she tossed each article of clothing into a heap on the ground. “I like those robes, I’d rather not destroy them when I shift,” she explained.

“Should I—” Vort broke off when Nadia removed her bra.

“Just watch,” she answered, skimming off her panties.

“Gladly,” he replied. She was beautiful in the light of Sarkhai’s sun. Her pale skin was littered with freckles and something else. He frowned, trying to figure out what it was.

“Scales,” she informed him, tracing a line of them across her collarbone.

He nodded. “Show me?”

She smiled and closed her eyes, lifting her face and arms to the sun. It seemed as though she gathered the light to her, becoming brighter and brighter until he had to cover his eyes and look away.

“You can look now,” a voice said. It both was and wasn’t Nadia’s voice. He opened his eyes and looked. His breath caught in his throat as he walked towards her, as if drawn by a string.

She was beautiful. She was at least thirty feet long and nearly as many feet tall standing on the grass. A pair of large wings extended from her back. Her scales were nearly all white. Her face still bore the blue markings of her facepaint, but there were further blue markings along her body and tail. Kriff. She had a  _ tail. _

“Vort?” she asked, nervous. Her voice was deeper, richer, than in her humanoid form.

He moved towards her head, meeting her familiar blue eyes. “Beautiful,” he said, reaching out to touch her chin just as he had done minutes before.

A soft trilling noise emerged from her throat and she closed her eyes.

The scales on her chin were smaller than the ones on her body and softer than Vort had expected. He watched her tuck her wings close to her body. “Can you fly?”

She huffed, opening her eyes again. “Of course. Although, I’ve never flown with a rider before.

His eyes widened in surprise and delight. “You can do that?”

She huffed again, the equivalent of a laugh, he guessed. “Yes, we can.”

He laughed suddenly and sat down hard on the grass. “Kriffing hell, Nadia. You’re a  _ dragon _ .”

Huffing another laugh, Nadia curled around him. “I didn’t know you knew what we were called.”

“I didn’t,” he protested, shifting to lean against her foreleg. “They’re creatures in Inner Rim mythology.” He snorted a laugh. “Guess we know where the legends came from.”

“Guess we do,” she agreed as she nudged his boot with her snout.

He sat up suddenly. “You don’t breathe fire do you?”

She laughed and shook her head. “No.”

He relaxed back against her. “Yeah, that part never made sense to me.”

A companionable silence fell between them.

“Although,” Nadia said thoughtfully after a while. “My mouth is pretty big. I could probably spew a lot of water.”

Vort sputtered before he burst out laughing, Nadia’s large body shaking behind him as she joined him.

End.


End file.
